Barriers
by makesometime
Summary: Jack can't deal with one more barrier. Based on the Season 7 episode Chimera.


A/N: Well, this is probably my first story where angst is the main theme. This story stems from the most recent spoilers for Chimera, which have the Shippers in uproar. And rightly so.

Thanks to Elvaralind for beta-ing :)

Enjoy!   
Zoe xx

~~~~

Sam walked up to the last door in the corridor, her pace slowing and her anxiety mounting. This was her last stop, and there was a very good reason for her taking her time to get here. This weekend she had planned a dinner party for the team and Janet to finally meet Peter. They had been dating for about a month now, and circumstances had prevented her from getting the group together. The coming days were the first free time she had which coincided with everyone else, so it seemed the logical thing to do.

She had already stopped in on Janet, Teal'c and Daniel who had all willingly agreed to come, and she now only had one more person to invite.

Cautiously, she lifted her hand to knock on the door in front of her. After one short knock she lowered her hand and waited. For a moment, she could hear no sound from inside the room, which concerned her, since she knew that he was in his office. Eventually, she heard his muffled 'Come in' from inside the room, and opened the door to enter.

She came to stand in front of his desk, to find that he did not looked surprised to see her.  Pushing that thought aside, she smiled brightly at him.

"Good afternoon Sir."

"Major." Came his curt reply, "What can I do for you?"

"Well Sir, I came to invite you to a dinner party I'm having this weekend. Daniel, Janet and Teal'c have already agreed to come, and you were the last on my list to invite." She said, her tone light and - she hoped – encouraging for him to come.

When his silence stretched on, and no reply came, she started to worry slightly. He was looking at her calculatingly, as if trying to discern if she had any ulterior motive to this gathering.

"Is Peter going to be there?" He finally asked, but his voice was dull and lifeless as opposed to his normal speech.

"Uh... Yes, he is." Sam replied, refraining from adding 'Is that a problem?' to the end - mostly because she feared his answer.

After another moment of silence, he answered her. "I'm sorry Major, but I've already organised to go fishing this weekend with an old friend and it's not something I can get out of." He spoke quickly, and set about tidying up his desk, obviously trying to hint to her that he felt this conversation was over.

Sam felt a jolt of pain go through her at his quick dismissal of her. This had been what she had feared. Ever since she had met Peter and started dating, she had felt the distance between her and Jack get larger and larger with each passing day. They rarely talked any more unless it was necessary, and he had taken to bugging Daniel full time, never coming to see her in her lab.

Suddenly, she was aware that he was staring at her and she hadn't moved since his last words.

"Is that all, Major?"

"Yes Sir, have a good time, Sir." She said quickly, wanting to get out of the room as soon as possible.

Without looking back, she left the room, just managing to stop herself from slamming the door behind her.

~~~~~

As soon as she turned away, Jack's whole body slumped forward, his head resting in his hands, his elbows on the desk.

He had known as soon as the knock had sounded, who it was at his door. He was reluctant to let her in, knowing that if she had actually come to see him then it was most likely about something personal and social and something he just didn't want to know about. However, he knew her well enough to know that she would know he was in his office, because there was really nowhere else he went on Base these days.

Inviting her in, he got himself into perfect Colonel mode, not willing to interact with her without his personal defences in place.

He knew the answer to his question about Peter before he asked it. But he needed the confirmation. He also needed to let her know why he wouldn't say yes, **couldn't **say yes to her. It wasn't spoken, but he was certain she knew why he had declined her offer. Although she didn't question it. 

It was well known that Peter was a sore subject between the two of them; so much so, he couldn't remember the last time his name had been mentioned by anyone in his company. Which although he was somewhat grateful for, it was almost worse than having to face the facts that Sam had chosen someone else over him. 

This way, it gnawed at him, the constant knowledge that she was going home to Peter, spending time with him that she used to spend with the team. Sometimes he just wished it were all out in the open. It would hurt so much less.

~~~~

Sometime during his self-pitying session, he heard another knock on the door. Sighing deeply, he raised himself up and rubbed his hands over his face.

"Yeah, whatever, come in." He said dejectedly, wincing as Daniel entered. "What do you want?" 

Daniel carefully shut the door and walked slowly over to stand in front of his friend.

"I just ran into Sam uh... she was pretty upset. She said something about you not coming this weekend because you were going fishing." He said carefully, knowing better than to confront Jack in any way. "What's going on Jack? We all know you're not going fishing."

Jack sighed and looked at Daniel for the first time since he entered the room. "What did you expect? That I would merrily agree to spend time watching Carter make googly eyes at her boyfriend?" He said bitterly.

Daniel frowned; Jack's sarcasm was once again doing a stellar job of hiding his true feelings. "Why are you doing this Jack? It's obvious how you feel, it's even starting to drive a hole in the team. You don't listen to Sam's opinions anymore, petty arguments between you two have caused us to nearly get our asses kicked more than once. I really don't know why you do this to yourself."

"It's not like I willingly allow myself to get hurt, Daniel. You know as well as I do that I've never been any good with that 'feelings' crap. I do what I can to cause the least hassle and to get my job done. And that does not involve watching helplessly as yet **another** barrier is brought up between me and Sam."

Daniel regarded his friend's slumped shoulders sadly.

"Well then perhaps it's time you start focusing more on 'that feelings crap' as you so pleasantly put it, and let Sam know how you really feel." He offered, before he turned and walked to the door. Just before he left, he gave his final piece of advice.

"The longer you wait, the more barriers there will be. Act now Jack. Before it's too late."

~~~~

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